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isclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything else that is recognizable.
A/N: For the readers of The Boy Who Destroyed the World: part 2 should be out some time in the next few days. A week or so at most.
This chapter has been giving me trouble, but here it is. I didn't want to make this Hermione like the one from 'Destroy' so she may be a bit OOC or a lot, I'm not sure, either way I was going for a different take on Hermione..
The Dawn of a Golden Age
I Am Atrocity
Chapter IV: Temptation
'Sometimes I tremble like a little child that faces morning with a broken smile,
Some times I crumble when the shades unfurl,
Sometimes I feel that I could rule the world.'
-Rule the World by Kamelot
Harry sat in a compartment near the front of the train, he was alone at the moment, though he didn't know how long this would last. He had already changed into his uniform so he wouldn't forget to later."Why must we wait? We are strong enough to take him now." Be that as it may Tom, we must wait because, while we are strong enough now to take control, we do not have the support to stay there. "Rule by fear insures support. If they fear you they will not challenge you." Untrue Tom. That kind of thinking will get us killed. Fear is a powerful emotion and can bring out the best or the worst in people. Some, like the Dursleys, can be easily controlled by fear. While there are others that would rise against us in order to end our reign of fear. "You think too much." No, you don't think enough. Your solution to every thing is either 'CRUCIO!' or 'AVADA KADAVRA!'. It's a good thing I can block you from taking control or there would be no one left in all of Surry. Tom was silent.
The train had begun moving while Harry was arguing with Tom and he had a feeling that he would be intruded upon soon. As if on cue the compartment door opened to reveal the youngest male Weasel. "Do you mind? All the others are full.""Lies! There aren't enough students to fill this train to full capacity." How would you know that? "It's common sense, it's a magic train. It always has room." Oh, well...we still have to play along.
"Oh, not at all." He gestured to the seat opposite him.
"I'm Ron Weasley," he stuck out a dirt covered hand, the one that wasn't carrying a rat.. Harry shook it and had to physically stop himself from running to wash his own hand.
"I'm Harry Potter." "What are you doing? We are supposed destroy them, not make friends with them." I'm not making friends with him, I'm playing along. Make them think that I'm clueless about the magical world. Make them think that they are in control.
"Really? Do you really have the scar?" Ron asked in an excited manner. "Bastard, asking us about the scar like it's a great thing. It's not, I should know, I gave it to you."
"Oh..uh..yeah." Harry pushed his hair out of his face to reveal the mark. "What the..? What are you doing!" Letting him believe he has the upper hand.
"Wicked!"
"Is not you little son of a bitch! Let me kill him! PLEASE!"No, Tom. "I said 'please'." And I said no. It would ruin everything. He may be an immature git with no care for others' emotions but we must keep up appearences. Besides, I'll need servants later. "You could find someone more useful than him in a cemetery." The tombstones alone display more intelligence than what he is.
Ron was talking about how he had acquired his rat or some such thing; Harry wasn't really listening, just nodding every once in a while. He was thinking of a plan to 'manipulate the manipulator's manipulations', when the perfect opportunity presented itself. A kind looking old lady stopped outside the compartment to offer them sweets. Ron declined as he pulled a rather disgusting-looking balled up sandwich out of his pocket. Harry, having stopped at Gringotts the day before and withdrew some money, withdrew a handful of galleons and bought five of everything. Ron devoured the majority of it, Harry just settled for a blood-pop. The name had intrigued him, and he wasn't disappointed. It really did taste like blood, he had had his mouth busted enough in the past to know. Though he began to worry about his sanity when he discovered that he liked it. He placed the candy back down and acted disgusted. "Yeah, I should have told you not to try those, they're awful," Ron said this with his mouth full so the words were nearly impossible to understand.
He watched the redhead swallow all of the food in his mouth at once, the action looked painful but Ron didn't even hesitate to start shoving more in. "Harry?" Yeah? "I think I'm gonna be sick." Yeah, me too. Harry was just about to excuse himself when a girl appeared in the doorway. She had bushy brown hair and the most beautiful eyes Harry had ever seen; she had her mouth open to speak, her front teeth were slightly big but not so bis that they were unsightly, but when she caught sight of Ron gorging himself the words died in her throat and were soon replaced by vomit. She turned her gaze away while trying to control her gag reflex. When she finally did look up she was looking at Harry while doing her best to ignore sickening sounds coming from the compartments other resident.
"Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one," she asked Harry.
A light bulb turned on in Harry's head, "No, but I'll help you look for it." Without waiting for her to reply he was up and out the door, dragging the girl with him.. Anything to get away from that...that...gah I can't think of anything bad enough to describe him. "Just calling him 'Weasley' is insult enough in my book. But what happened to playing along?" I didn't expect to have to endure that...that...nausea inducing spectacle.
"Um...could you let me go now?" the girls voice broke through his internal conversation. He hadn't even realized that he still had a hold of her arm.
Harry let go as if he had been shocked. "Oh, uh...sorry."
"It's okay." she smiled up at him. She was grateful that she was out of that compartment and away from that boy, and apparently so was he. She stuck out her hand, "I'm Hermione Granger, if you don't mind me asking: who are you?"
"Oh um...I'm Harry, Harry Potter."
Hermione looked surprised for a second as she studied him, he was starting to grow uncomfortable. "What?" he asked her in a worrying manner.
"You're not as tall as I thought you would be," she said simply.
"WHAT! Did she just call us short? CRUCIO!" Calm down Tom, we've been called worse...way worse."CRUCIO!" Stop trying to curse her, it won't work."Dammit!" Harry chuckled at Tom's antics, then he noticed that Hermione was looking at him like he mad. He raised his brow, daring her to say something. She looked like she was going to comment but then closed her mouth. Harry nodded in approval and turned around to search for a new compartment in which to spend the rest of the train ride.. He remembered what he had said on the way out of Ron's compartment, "Did you already check all of these?"
She looked confused for a moment before it clicked, "Yes, actually I've already checked the whole train." He nodded and kept walking. At about halfway he found an empty compartment and entered. "Surprise, surprise. What did I tell you?" You were right.
Harry took a seat next to the window and Hermione sat across from him. He looked up at her, "So, Hermione, that's from...Shakespeare right?" Harry had discovered Shakespeare at the same time as Poe, and they had both become his favorites, Poe ranked first though.
"Um, yeah. My mother is a big fan of Shakespeare and liked the name."
"Are your parents magical as well?" "Good question."
"No, no one in my family is. It was quite a shock to us all when I got my letter."
"Oh." "She is a mudblood! We must not associate with mudbloods, only pure-bloods. We will kill her along with the rest when the time comes" I see no problem with her blood status. And we may not have to kill her if we can get her on our side. We need allies. Besides that, aren't you beinghypocritical? You support the pure-blood agenda yet both you and I are half-bloods. Tom was quiet. Well, time for step one. "Hermione, would you like to be my friend? I've never had a friend before and well..." he trailed off 'uncertainly'. It was true, he had never had a friend, but then again he had never wanted one.
She smiled brightly at him, "Of course I'll be your friend Harry. The truth is...I've never had any friends either," she finished looking extremely sad about the fact.
Harry smiled at her; it was meant as a comforting smile, and it was, but Hermione could see something else in Harry's eyes, it lurked just beneath the surface. Whatever it was it did not look pleasant, yet she found for some reason this did not bother her one bit. "Those days are over." She smiled again.
"What house do you think you will be in?"
"I don't know, honestly. What about you?"
"I don't know either. Probably Ravenclaw."
"Hmm, perhaps. Perhaps not."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing you need worry about," he told her with a dismissive gesture, she once again caught a glimpse of something dark in his eyes; yet again, she wasn't bothered by it. It appeared sinister in nature yet she felt, for some unknown reason, that it wasn't aimed against her.
"Either way, I hope we are in the same house. Now that I have a friend I don't want to give you up," she said, while blushing beautifully. Harry felt a slight tug in his chest.
Tom, what was that? "Your magic. It calls out for hers." I don't understand. "Nor do I, but I intend to find out as soon as possible." Looks like we may have some research to do once we arrive at school. "Indeed we do."
"Neither do I Hermione, neither do I." He whispered so low that she almost didn't hear him; but she did hear, and the words only made her happier.
They fell into a comfortable silence as the train continued on its way to their destination.
When the train finally came to a halt the sun had fallen and night had begun its reign. Sometime during the last hour or so Hermione had fallen asleep and now lay slightly curled on the opposite seats. Harry gently shook her awake and told her that they had arrived. She stood and stretched out the stiffness in her limbs and smoothed out her wrinkled clothing. Harry grabbed her hand and began to lead her off the train.
When they exited out onto the platform they immediately heard a loud booming voice calling out for first years. They followed the voice until they were standing before a giant of a man and Harry was wondering how he had missed him when he had scanned the crowd for threats as he always did when he went out of his house. "Wow, Hagrid got big." Tom commented in slight awe. Harry chuckled, that was an understatement of massive proportions. "Oh, shit he's seen us." Harry ignored Tom and stood next the large man.
"Harry? Is that you?"
"Yes. And you are?"
"Rubeus Hagrid, I'm the groundskeeper at Hogwarts. I new yer parents, before they died."
Harry carried on a short conversation with Hagrid, further expanding his small sphere of influence. Harry was slightly thrown when Hagrid made a comment about him and Hermione, "Gettin' started a bit early ain't ya?" he asked gesturing to their still joined hands. Harry hadn't even realized that he was holding her hand until then but he didn't let go as she didn't seem to be protesting.
After sailing across the lake in tiny little rowboats they found themselves waiting in the entrance hall. Professor McGonagall had left them a few minutes ago. Harry was studying the other kids around him. None of them seemed to be a threat to him, nor did any appear useful. He found himself disappointed.
"So it's true then,what they were saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts this year." Harry turned his gaze to the speaker, a small pointy-faced boy with greasy-looking slicked back blonde hair. The boy walked up to him as if he owned the place and expect Harry to fall to his knees and bow. Well, he had another thing coming. "The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron, who was standing a little behind Harry, snickered at the boy's name. "What? You think my name is funny? Well, Ive no need to ask for yours. Red hair and a hand-me-down robe, you are a Weasley. A blood-traitor." He turned back to Harry, "You'll soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, I can help you there." He held his hand out to shake. Harry ignored it.
"I'm quite confident that I can distinguish the less favorable families for my self. And yours isn't one of them," he said the next part low enough so that only Malfoy could hear him, Tom's rage could just barely be heard underneath Harry's mockingly polite voice, "After all, your father turned his back on his master when there was no proof that he was gone. And I can promise you that your entire bloodline will suffer from his folly. Along with the rest of the inner circle, they will all beg for mercy at my feet, then they will live the life that I lived for so many years. If they refuse, well that isn't an option...not if they wish to live that is." He smiled maliciously at the pale Malfoy standing before him, a smile that promised a future filled with suffering for any who opposed him. "I wonder how your mother and father will like being treated worse than a house elf...hmm...now that is a beautiful image." With that he turned his back to the boy, Malfoy didn't take to kindly to being dismissed and was about to shoot his mouth off when McGonagall returned, probably saving the git's worthless life.
"We are ready for you now, follow me."
She led them into the Great Hall, Hermione was telling him how she had read in 'Hogwarts: A History' that the ceiling was bewitched to resemble the night sky, then they reached the front of the hall.
"Would you all please wait right here, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words."
The elderly Professor stood from his seat, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. First years please make note that the Forbidden forest is strictly, well forbidden to all students. And to all, the third floor corridor is off limits to any who do not wish to die. Thank you." he smiled at the end, his eyes twinkling merrily. "Cryptic and manipulative as always. Just by saying that I'm sure that more than a few will want to go to the third floor. Though I doubt that any will be brave enough."
Harry's attention was brought back to McGonagall when she began to speak, "Now when I call your name, you will come up here and sit on this stool, I will then place the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses.
A/N: This gave me a bit of trouble. Review if you want, No Flames. I have set up a Poll on my profile for Harry's Dark Lord name, I took the suggestions made by a few of you and added them to the ones that I was already considering. So stop by and vote if you please.
-Atrocity.